Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 at 01:05 AM.

Ten games into a basketball season marked to this point by unfulfilling victories and glaring losses, North Carolina, according to Reggie Bullock, remains in search of a single-minded purpose.

“As a player and a leader on this team, I don’t feel like we have everyone all in yet,” the junior swingman said, “not worried about individual stats, just worried about how far this team can go.”

James Michael McAdoo, when informed of Bullock’s comments made to a handful of reporters, responded that the Tar Heels’ issues so far have been more rooted in trusting — and sticking with — principles established by coach Roy Williams.

“I wouldn’t say there’s selfishness, necessarily, that I see,” said McAdoo, the sophomore forward. “But I see when we definitely don’t play our game and play Coach’s system, what happens in spurts during the game where we just look out of whack.

“I think we really just need to start working together better on both ends of the floor and just carrying over the things that we learn in practice, where I feel like we’re such a great team.”

Those inside perspectives from Bullock and McAdoo, the Tar Heels’ top scorers and rebounders, are worth filing away as North Carolina continues to try to iron out its kinks and discover its potential while winding down the non-league portion of its schedule.

The Tar Heels tangle with Texas tonight in their only December road game, then meet McNeese State on Saturday and UNLV on Dec. 29 before entering Atlantic Coast Conference play next month.

Ten games into a basketball season marked to this point by unfulfilling victories and glaring losses, North Carolina, according to Reggie Bullock, remains in search of a single-minded purpose.

“As a player and a leader on this team, I don’t feel like we have everyone all in yet,” the junior swingman said, “not worried about individual stats, just worried about how far this team can go.”

James Michael McAdoo, when informed of Bullock’s comments made to a handful of reporters, responded that the Tar Heels’ issues so far have been more rooted in trusting — and sticking with — principles established by coach Roy Williams.

“I wouldn’t say there’s selfishness, necessarily, that I see,” said McAdoo, the sophomore forward. “But I see when we definitely don’t play our game and play Coach’s system, what happens in spurts during the game where we just look out of whack.

“I think we really just need to start working together better on both ends of the floor and just carrying over the things that we learn in practice, where I feel like we’re such a great team.”

Those inside perspectives from Bullock and McAdoo, the Tar Heels’ top scorers and rebounders, are worth filing away as North Carolina continues to try to iron out its kinks and discover its potential while winding down the non-league portion of its schedule.

The Tar Heels tangle with Texas tonight in their only December road game, then meet McNeese State on Saturday and UNLV on Dec. 29 before entering Atlantic Coast Conference play next month.

North Carolina is coming off an irritating 93-87 victory against East Carolina in which a lead that stood at 18 points with 7:19 remaining and 13 points with 3½ minutes left eventually was whittled to four in the last 30 seconds.

That stumbling ending became the final item in a checklist of frustrations for Williams.

He seemed most rankled after Saturday’s game by the combined zero offensive rebounds from the Tar Heels’ frontcourt and the defensive and mental lapses that helped East Carolina mount its late charge.

“We’ve got to do a lot of work,” Williams said. “That’s the bottom line.”